Black Roses
by ncfan
Summary: A Language of Flowers oneshot. Black roses mean death. If we play a role for long enough, it will consume us.


Unless I get further inspiration, this is going to be the last installment in _The Language of Flowers _series. This final one's about Shizune again, but from another person's perspective.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Black roses mean death.

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When people see her black kimono, they learn to associate Shizune with death.

Death, all know, comes on swift and silent wings, dressed in a black sheath. Shizune is the perfect person to represent death.

Of course, to her patients, Shizune isn't associated with death at all. They see her as life, their saving grace, their salvation. A tall, slender woman in a black kimono steps into the room and immediately everything functions according to her beat. No one does anything if she doesn't tell them to, nothing gets done without her say-so, and she does absolutely everything within her power to save her patient's life. Shizune has lost more patients than Sakura or Tsunade, but fights harder than either of them can dream of, because she knows that though her skill is outweighed by her mistress and her fellow apprentice, she is more dedicated to her task than either of them will ever be.

But hands that heal can kill with equal proficiency.

Shizune uses her hands to create poisons. Poisons that blacken the lungs, scar internal organs, poisons that scar and kill, poisons that linger and flee, poisons considered so insidious that it is small wonder that her enemies and some of her allies look at her as Death.

Of course, Tsunade thinks, standing by the hospital bed, that doesn't stop Shizune from dying herself.

She is not dead, exactly. Shizune is comatose, slipping further down by every second, the measure of beats and beeps on the machine growing further and further away from each other. Those beats will be gone by nightfall, and the setting sun is casting a golden glow over the room.

Everything is white, everything horribly blank, all except one thing, sitting on the nightstand.

Shizune was struck down by her own lover. He told Tsunade as much just before she killed him. He didn't even try to dodge the blow (that may be due to the injuries he sustained before beforehand at Shizune's capable hands, but Tsunade doesn't think so), and Tsunade is fairly certain that his body is sitting in the morgue several floors below. The man died with a smile on his face and whispered words of gratitude on his lips. She doesn't think he intended to make Shizune's death so lingering.

When Nawaki and later Dan died, Tsunade wept and raged. She was inconsolable, insensible to anything but their deaths. She drank deeply of the bottle and wiped away all her memories in poison…

But not now. The world is moving at a breakneck pace, but Tsunade is standing still. She's just counting down the seconds until the clock stops and her attendant's heart stops beating.

She's numb and quiet. She may go and destroy a few rooms of the hospital later (and she's already overturned her office desk and thrown it out a window), but for now, her limbs feel utterly flaccid.

There's nothing she can do, and that's the problem. If she were half as devoted as the woman dying in the bed, Shizune wouldn't be in this position, she wouldn't be sliding towards death at every second, and Tsunade knows that it was in her power to save her. She just wasn't determined enough.

Tsunade smiles sadly at her old friend, and thinks about something Shizune once told her.

_"If we play a role for long enough, it will consume us."_

Those words were said by Shizune out of concern for Tsunade. They have proved correct, but not in the way anyone expected. Shizune played the part of Death, and now her role has consumed her, piece by piece.

Someone outside the door calls for Tsunade. She casts an almost desperate look in the direction of the bed.

"I'm sorry," Tsunade whispers. "I have to go."

Before she leaves, Tsunade wonders who left the black roses in the vase at the nightstand.

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I hope you liked this last one. Like I said, unless I receive further inspiration, this will be the last entry, and I chose death as a conclusion.

If you want to see another entry, then you can help me. I have a few flowers that I was able to connect with the kunoichi, but I can't think of any situations to go with them. Here are a few.

For Yugito: scarlet lilies meaning high-souled aspirations; purple hyacinth meaning sorrow; nightshade meaning truth; and heather, meaning solitude.  
For Tenten: alyssum, meaning worth beyond beauty.  
For Tsunade: snowdrop meaning hope, and white poppies meaning sleep.  
For Karura: edelweiss meaning daring and noble courage; coltsfoot meaning maternal love; and star of Bethlehem meaning hope.  
For Shizune: white lilies meaning purity and lavender meaning constancy, devotion.  
For Sakura: primrose meaning happiness and yellow poppies meaning success.  
For Ino: yellow iris meaning passion; larkspur meaning fickleness; and lady's slipper meaning capricious beauty.

There are some of the ones I have. If you think one of these sounds good, or if you have a suggestion of your own, please let me know through review or private message. If you have an idea of your own, give me the proper information: flower, meaning, and the kunoichi you think it fits.

Well, it's been fun. Anyone who's been paying attention to all of these, I hope you've liked them.


End file.
